Plainville School Committee Weighs Late Start Times, Google Switch, and Special Ed Leadership Change

NORTH ATTLEBORO — January 28, 2020 — Plainville School Committee hears that shifting King Philip start times could double transportation costs to roughly $2 million across member districts. King Philip Regional Superintendent Paul Zinni told the committee at its January 28 meeting that changing the regional middle-high school's 7:25 a.m. start would require adding 24 buses to the current 24-bus fleet shared with Plainville and Norfolk, doubling costs by approximately $1 million for King Philip and another $1 million split between the elementary districts. The committee agreed to put the question on a future agenda before committing to any position. IT Director Stephanie Whitaker made the case for staying with Microsoft Office 365 over Google's G Suite for Education, citing repeated federal enforcement actions against Google for student data mining — including a 2019 settlement of less than $170 million — and arguing that G Suite's bundled security and compliance features do not match the district's current A3 Microsoft licensing plan; members requested a side-by-side cost analysis. The committee voted unanimously to accept FY 2020 grants totaling $281,086 and approved a revised job description renaming the special education administrator role Director of Student Services, with one member opposed, as interim administrator Cynthia Callow prepares to step in following the February 14 departure of the current administrator.